Our Past Honorees...
2024 Beacon of Justice Award
Laurie L. Levenson & Capri Maddox
Professor Laurie L. Levenson
Professor Levenson is the David W. Burcham Chair in Ethical Advocacy at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, California, where she teaches evidence, criminal law, criminal procedure, ethics, white collar crime, and trial advocacy. Professor Levenson attended Stanford University and UCLA School of Law, where she was the Chief Articles Editor of the UCLA Law Review.
She clerked for the Honorable James Hunter, III, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Professor Levenson served as an Assistant United States Attorney from 1981-1989. During her years as a federal prosecutor, she held the positions of Chief of Appeals, Chief of Training, and Assistant Division Chief; Professor Levenson prosecuted a variety of federal criminal offenses, ranging from prison murders to white collar crimes.
While at Loyola Law School, Professor Levenson has authored more than 250 articles and thirteen books. She has published on issues related to criminal law, ethics, media and the law, and high-profile cases. In addition to teaching at Loyola, she regularly teaches evidence at several other law schools, including UCLA School of Law, USC School of Law, Southwestern University, and Pepperdine University Law School.
In 2011, Professor Levenson founded Loyola’s Project for the Innocent. The Project has secured the release and exonerations of eighteen clients who were wrongfully convicted and faced life imprisonment sentences or the death penalty.
In addition to her law school teaching, Professor Levenson lectures regularly for the Federal Judicial Center. In that capacity, she teaches federal judges from throughout the United States about topics relating to evidence law, ethics, criminal justice, civil rights, and the causes of wrongful convictions. She has served on numerous Commissions addressing legal reforms and has authored several ethical rules that have been adopted nationally.
Finally, Professor Levenson is a frequent commentator on high-profile legal matters. She has provided television, radio, and newspaper coverage for CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC, BBC, NPR, The New York Times, the Associated Press, and the Los Angeles Times, of cases such as the Rodney King beating case, the O.J. Simpson murder trial, the Michael Jackson sexual molestation trial, the Menendez murder trials, the impeachment trials of President Bill Clinton and President Donald Trump, the Kobe Bryant rape case, the Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein rape trials, the prosecution of the Jan. 6th insurrectionists, as well as the criminal investigations and prosecutions of former President Donald J. Trump.
Capri Maddox
Capri Maddox is the General Manager of the Los Angeles Civil, Human Rights and Equity Department (“LA Civil Rights”), which enforces civil rights law in private sector commerce, education, employment, and housing; and works to address hate, inequity, and structural racism through community partnerships.
Maddox was appointed as the department’s founding Executive Director and General Manager in 2020 by former Mayor Eric Garcetti and currently serves Mayor Karen Bass in this role. Under Maddox’s leadership, LA Civil Rights levels the playing field with the support of the Los Angeles City Council and LA Civil Rights’ five commissions and advisory boards: Commission on Civil Rights, Commission on the Status of Women, Human Relations Commission, Transgender Advisory Council, and the Reparations Advisory Commission.
Capri Maddox previously served in various roles in the Office of the Los Angeles City Attorney, including as Special Assistant City Attorney, Neighborhood Prosecutor, Central Trial Deputy, Complex Litigation Deputy City Attorney, and part of the General Counsel Group. In addition, Maddox led Los Angeles Unified School District Partnerships as its Executive Director, and was appointed by Mayor Villaraigosa as the President of the Board of Public Works.
Maddox holds a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice and Master of Public Administration from California State University, Los Angeles, and received her Juris Doctorate from Pepperdine Caruso School of Law.
In addition to her government service, Maddox is a member of several nonprofit boards, including CSULA’s Presidential Advisory Board, First AME Church’s Political Action Committee, and as a trustee of Southern California Public Radio.
2023 Beacon of Justice Award
Professor Isabelle R. Gunning and Judge Samantha Phillips Jessner
Professor Isabelle R. Gunning
Isabelle R. Gunning is the Mayor Tom Bradley Professor of Law at Southwestern Law School. Professor Gunning previously served as a criminal defense attorney with the Public Defender Service in Washington, D.C., and as a human rights attorney with the Southern Africa Project of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. She teaches in the area of conflict resolution/alternative dispute resolution and Evidence. Her research interests are in multicultural and interfaith dialogue and the search for and creation of shared values in the context of racial and other socially defined power and hierarchy dynamics.
She practices as a mediator and an arbitrator, and works as a mediator/facilitator in support of resolving community conflicts and has been a facilitator of community hearings with Days of Dialogue and Trust Talks. In addition, she has over 15 years’ experience serving as a labor arbitrator and hearing examiner in workplace disputes.
Professor Gunning also serves as a commissioner on the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations. During her tenure as president of the LACCHR (May 2016-2018) she presided over the hearings which lead to the report and related video of the LACCHR “Redefining Policing with our Community” (2020). She is a board member on the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and has served as the Affiliate’s president, as well as the Affiliate’s representative to the National ACLU Board.
Judge Samantha Phillips Jessner
Judge Samantha Phillips Jessner is the Presiding Judge (2023-2024) of the Los Angeles Superior Court, where she has served as Assistant Presiding Judge, Supervising Judge of the Civil Division, Supervising Judge of the Mental Health court, and on many LASC committees. Judge Jessner is a member of the Supreme Court Committee on Judicial Ethics Opinions, the Information Technology Advisory Committee, and the Civil and Small Claims Advisory Committee of the Judicial Council of California. For many years, she has taught New Judge Orientation and CJER Qualifying Ethics curriculum, in addition to teaching other subjects.
Judge Jessner is a founding member of the Association of African American California Judicial Officers and a member of the National Association of Women Judges. In addition, she is often asked to be a speaker or panelist for many organizations, including ABTL, CAALA, and LACBA, where she speaks on a variety of topics, including jury selection, trial advocacy, experts, mediation, court technology, civility, and informal discovery conferences.
Judge Jessner began her legal career as an associate at Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton and then served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Criminal Division in the Central District of California until she was appointed to the Court in 2007.
2022 Beacon of Justice Award
Justice Luis A. Lavin and Hon. Margaret M. Morrow (Ret.)
Justice Luis A. Lavin
Justice Luis A. Lavin is an Associate Justice of the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District. He was appointed to that position by Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. in 2015. Justice Lavin is co-chair of the Judicial Council’s Advisory Committee on Providing Access and Fairness. Since joining the Court of Appeal, he has also served as a justice pro tempore on the California Supreme Court.
Before his elevation to the Court of Appeal, Justice Lavin served for more than thirteen years as a trial judge on the Los Angeles Superior Court and presided over civil, criminal, and family law cases. Prior to his appointment to the trial court, he was Director of Enforcement and General Counsel for the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission. Before that, Justice Lavin served as a senior trial attorney with the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice. He had previously been in private practice, where he specialized in employment and commercial litigation.
Justice Lavin has taught as an adjunct professor at Loyola Law School, Southwestern Law School, and USC School of Law. He was also an instructor of judicial education for the California Center for Judicial Education and Research and the Los Angeles Superior Court.
A naturalized U.S. citizen born in Cuba, Justice Lavin attended public schools in New York City before graduating from Cornell University and Harvard Law School.
Hon. Margaret M. Morrow (Ret.)
On May 31, 2021, after serving for five and a half years, Margaret M. Morrow stepped down as the President and CEO of Public Counsel. Public Counsel is a nonprofit public interest law firm that serves over 16,000 children, families, veterans, consumers, immigrants, and community organizations every year. Its policy advocacy and impact litigation affect hundreds of thousands of people throughout the country living in poverty.
Prior to joining Public Counsel, Morrow served as a U.S. District Judge for eighteen years. She was appointed to the United States District Court for the Central District of California by President Bill Clinton on March 8, 1998. While on the bench, Morrow spearheaded efforts to build a new federal courthouse in Los Angeles, which opened in October 2016. She also helped build and oversaw the Central District’s ADR program for over ten years. Morrow received her B.A. degree magna cum laude with honors from Bryn Mawr College in 1971, and her J.D. degree cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1974.
Morrow is a past president of the State Bar of California, the first woman to hold that position. She also served as president of the Los Angeles County Bar Association and its Barristers Section. Morrow is an Emeritus Trustee of Bryn Mawr College, and served on the Commission to Draft an Ethics Code for Los Angeles City Government.
During her career, Morrow has received numerous awards, including the Outstanding Jurist and Shattuck-Price Awards from the Los Angeles County Bar Association; the Bernard E. Witkin Amicus Curiae Award from the Judicial Council of California; the Ernestine Stahlhut Award from the Women Lawyers’ Association of Los Angeles; and the Maynard Toll Award from the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles.
2021 Beacon of Justice Award
Presiding Judge Kevin C. Brazile and Steve Nissen
Presiding Judge Kevin C. Brazile has demonstrated a strong commitment to justice throughout his distinguished and history-making career. Born in Los Angeles, he was the first in his family to attend college, receiving his B.A. and J.D. degrees from UCLA even as he worked a myriad of jobs. Upon graduation from law school, he joined the Los Angeles County Counsel’s Office where he rose to become the first African-American division chief, arguing cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit and California Courts of Appeal. In 2002 he was appointed to the Los Angeles Superior Court by Governor Gray Davis and in 2019 became the first African-American to be elected presiding judge.
Judge Brazile co-chairs the Judicial Council’s Advisory Committee on Providing Access and Fairness and has served as a member of the Judicial Council’s Civil and Small Claims Advisory Committee. He was appointed by the Chief Justice in September 2020, to serve a three-year term as voting member on the Judicial Council of California. His strong leadership has been evident most recently during the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis as he has kept courts functioning, making challenging decisions and implementing innovative solutions.
An inspirational leader who has inspired ethnic minorities and worked to increase the diversity of the court’s leadership, his honors and awards are numerous, including the Langston Bar Judge of the Year Award, Association of Southern California Defense Counsel Judge of the Year Award and California Association of Black Lawyers Judge of the Year Award.
Steve Niss
en is a passionate champion of pro bono services and civic engagement who has dedicated his life to justice and equality. After graduating from Berkeley Law he joined Manatt, Phelps & Phillips where he became a partner. Always committed to the concept of equal justice for rich and poor alike, he made the fateful decision to leave private practice to become the President of Public Counsel Law Center. In his 13 years of dedicated service, he built Public Counsel into the largest pro bono law firm in the United States. With a staff of 50 individuals and 10,000 volunteer attorneys, it provides over $200 million worth of legal services to children, the elderly, low-income families and nonprofit organizations.
In 1997 Mr. Nissen became Executive Director of the State Bar of California and then served as a senior official with California Governor Gray Davis’ office, including positions as Interim Staff Director, Director of the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research, and the Governor’s liaison to the Blue Ribbon Panel on Hate Groups. In 2002 he returned to private practice at Manatt and then joined NBCUniversal in 2008 as Senior VP overseeing government affairs. In 2020, he transitioned to his current position as President and CEO of Nissen Consulting Group.
His many civic engagements include serving as Chair of the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp and as former Chair of the Los Angeles area Chamber of Commerce as well as the Central City Association. He is also a Board member of one of California’s largest charitable foundations, the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation. He has received numerous awards for his contributions to the community in the civic, government, nonprofit, corporate and legal sectors.
2020 Beacon of Justice Award
Justice Elwood Lui and Rose Matsui Ochi
![Rex S. Heinke](/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/LUI-WEB.jpeg" "Justice Elwood Lui")
Justice Elwood Lui has a distinguished legal career and long history of public service. He received his B.S., M.B.A and J.D. degrees from UCLA, working his way through law school as a full-time CPA. His stellar judiciary career began in 1975 when he was appointed to LA Municipal Court and then LA Superior Court. In 1987 he joined Jones Day and was their lead appellate lawyer in the California region. He was appointed an Associate Justice to the Court of Appeal Second District in 2015 and within three years was confirmed as presiding Justice of Division Two and then as Administrative Presiding Justice of the Second Appellate District. In public service he has overseen federal litigation regarding overcrowding in California state prisons, restructured the Department of Children’s Services to improve service to foster children and instituted a new streamlined disciplinary system for the State Bar. He has received numerous awards including the Witkin Medal from the State Bar of California.
Rose Matsui Ochi is a teacher, a lawyer, a policy maker and a civil rights activist. She has a fierce commitment to justice and public service sparked by her and her family being sent to an American internment camp for Americans of Japanese descent in Rohwer, Arkansas during WWII. She received her B.A. from UCLA, M.S. from California State University, Los Angeles, and her J.D. from Loyola Law School. Working with the USC Western Center on Law and Poverty she served as co-counsel on the landmark education reform case, Serrano v. Priest. In 1979, President Carter appointed her to the Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy. She is well known for being the first Asian American woman Assistant Attorney General and advised President Clinton on Drug Policy and Race Relations. She worked with Mayor Tom Bradley on refugee and immigration issues and then Mayor James Hahn who asked her to join the Los Angeles Police Commission. Of her many pro bono roles, one of her proudest is championing the redress movement and establishment of the Manzanar National Historic Site.
2019 Beacon of Justice Award
Rex S. Heinke and Hon. Carlos R. Moreno (Ret.)
![Rex S. Heinke](https://friendsoflalawlibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Heinke.jpg" "Rex S. Heinke")
Rex S. Heinke has championed justice throughout his distinguished legal career. One of the most experienced appellate lawyers in California and the United States, he is co-head of the nationally renowned Supreme Court and appellate practice of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. He has argued over 150 appellate cases in federal and state courts throughout the country including First Amendment, intellectual property, entertainment, media and Internet issues. A graduate of Columbia Law School, Mr. Heinke is recognized as one of the Best Lawyers in America and has been named a Southern California Super Lawyer and honored as a California Lawyer of the Year. He has received many additional awards and accolades including the First Amendment Lifetime Achievement Award. A past President of the Los Angeles County Bar Association and Public Counsel, Mr. Heinke is involved with numerous community, civic and charitable boards including Bet Tzedek and the Children’s Law Center.
Hon. Carlos R. Moreno (Ret.) is a groundbreaking leader in the legal field who has dedicated his life to equality and justice. A graduate of Stanford Law School, he began his career in private practice and as a prosecutor with the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office prior to beginning a stellar 25-year career with the judiciary. He served for 10 years on the California Supreme Court, writing more than 140 majority opinions on a wide range of precedent setting cases including significant opinions involving LGBT rights, arbitration, and insurance policy coverage. From 2014-2017, Justice Moreno served as United States Ambassador to Belize where he worked to improve citizen security, economic development and governance. Most recently he joined the JAMS mediation and arbitration services firm. A first-generation Mexican-American, Justice Moreno has been honored with numerous accolades for his work off and on the Bench including recognition for his pioneering achievements and his work in child advocacy.
2018 Beacon of Justice Award
Andrea Sheridan Ordin and Justice Laurie Zelon
![Andrea Sheridan Ordin](https://friendsoflalawlibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/imglykit-export-3.jpeg" "Andrea Sheridan Ordin")
Andrea Sheridan Ordin is a trailblazer for women in the legal profession and an accomplished advocate in environmental, consumer protection, antitrust and civil rights litigation. She has been recognized for hiring and promoting record numbers of women and people of color. She has served in both the private and public sectors. After graduating from UCLA School of Law, she began her career in the California Attorney General’s office, and later became the first woman Assistant District Attorney of Los Angeles, first woman U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, first woman California Chief Assistant Attorney General and recently, the first woman Los Angeles County Counsel. As a litigation partner at Morgan Lewis, she oversaw their extensive pro bono programs in Los Angeles. Her civic contributions include serving as a Commissioner on the 1991 Christopher Commission, President of the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners and currently Commissioner of the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission.
Justice Laurie Zelon has been a champion for pro bono legal services and access to justice throughout her career. After graduating from Harvard Law School, she began an active litigation practice and was a partner at both Hufstedler, Kaus & Ettinger and Morrison & Foerster. Appointed to the Superior Court in 2000, she has served as an associate justice for the California Court of Appeal since 2003. She is a past President and Trustee of the LA County Bar Association. In the American Bar Association, she has served as Chair of both the Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service and Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defense. She has been a long-time member and was founding chair of the California Commission on Access to Justice. In honor of her dedication to pro bono services, the Laurie Zelon Pro Bono Award is given annually by the Pro Bono Institute of Washington, D.C. .
2017 Beacon of Justice Award
Justice Audrey B. Collins
California Court of Appeal, Second District & Los Angeles
Justice Audrey B. Collins
Justice Collins has exemplified a strong commitment to justice and equality throughout her distinguished and history-making career. The granddaughter of a slave who became a minister, her family’s strong tradition of public service inspired her to pursue a career in the law. After graduating from UCLA Law School, she served in the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office where she was the first African-American woman to become Head Deputy, Assistant Bureau Director, and Assistant District Attorney. She was appointed to the United States District Court for the Central District of California in 1994 and served as Chief Judge of the Central District from 2009 through September 2012. In 2014, she was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown to the California Court of Appeal. Justice Collins’ honors are numerous and include the Outstanding Jurist Award from the Los Angeles County Bar Association, the Joan Dempsey Klein Distinguished Jurist Award from the California Women Lawyers and both the Loren Miller Lawyer of the Year and the Bernard Jefferson Justice of the Year Awards from the John M. Langston Bar Association.
2016 Beacon of Justice Award
Justice Joan Dempsey Klein and Stephen English
California Court of Appeal, Second District & Los Angeles
Justice Joan Dempsey Klein is renowned as a trailblazer for women in the law. She is the first UCLA School of Law graduate appointed to the Los Angeles judiciary. In 1955, in an era when women rarely went to law school, she was one of only three women to graduate from the new UCLA School of Law. She joined the office of the California Attorney General after graduation. Eight years later, she was appointed by Governor Pat Brown to the Los Angeles Municipal Court, where she initiated a county wide Bail by Mail program and undertook one of the first major studies on court unification. After she served on the Los Angeles Superior court, Governor Jerry Brown appointed her as the first female presiding justice to the appellate court. She has served with the distinction on the courts for more than 50 years and has published 507 opinions. When she retired from the bench at the end of 2015, she was the senior presiding justice in the State.
Her leadership in the women’s legal community is legendary. She not only actively mentored and encouraged other women lawyers to seek judicial appointments but also served as the founding president of California Women Lawyers, and also the National Association of Women Judges, the leading voice for women jurists. She has traveled the world extensively in support of women in the judiciary. She has received numerous honors, and honors have been named to her. She remains active and looks forward to acceptance of women as judges everywhere in the world.
Stephen English has long been a champion for the poor and disadvantages. An honors graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School, he practiced law for many years as a partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. Pursuant to his interest in legal services for the poor, he has chaired the boards of three of Los Angeles’ most prominent public interest law firms: the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA), the Inter City Law Center, and Public Counsel. Wanting to do more to advance equality and social justice, he co-founded the Advancement Project with his wife, attorney Molly Munger, and colleague, attorney Connie Rice. Advancement Project is a public policy and advocacy organization rooted in the civil rights movement and devoted to expanding opportunity; its successes include training gang interventionists, expanding early education programs and helping ensure the construction of new schools in poor neighborhoods. Through his interest in upgrading our public school facilities he has helped to structure several state school bond measure and served for five years as Chair of the Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee of the Los Angeles Unified School District. As a believer in the civic renewal and the environment, he serves on the Board of the LA River Revitalization Corporation. Steve is a long-time and highly valued member of the LA Law Library family, having served on the Library’s Branch Review Ad Hoc Committee and the Friends’ Board of Directors.
2015 Beacon of Justice Award
Howard B. Miller brings a rich diversity of academic, public and professional leadership and publishing skills to his patent, copyright and intellectual property litigation practice: Professor of Law at the University of Southern California, President of the Los Angeles Unified School District, Executive Director of the Los Angeles Daily Journal, and President of the State Bar of California. He was prescient in recognizing the role of media--when television was king--in everyday life. He was a regular on the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) program, the Advocates, that put public issues on trial with unrehearsed cross examination. A University of Chicago Law School graduate (on full tuition scholarship), he began his legal career clerking for California Justice Roger Traynor. Miller successfully argued one of the most recent important U.S. intellectual property cases, Montz v. Pilgrims Films and NBC Universal .
2014 Beacon of Justice Award
Honorable H. Walter Croskey
California Court of Appeal, Second District
Justice H Walter Croskey is known for opinions that are uniformly considered bright lights of fairness and sound policy. His rulings on civil rights cases are legendary, in particular his opinions recognizing the primacy of children's fundamental rights respecting their family relationships over the interests of any other parties. His decisions have often given a voice to the County's poorest citizens. In addition to his work in civil liberties, Justice Croskey has issued significant decisions for the rights and privileges of lawyers. Justice Croskey's 2011 decision in Fireman's Fund Insurance Company vs Superior Court not only clarified attorney-client and work product privileges, but also explained and expanded the protections given California lawyers. Most significantly, Justice Croskey is a kind, generous and wise mentor who is held in high regard by clerks and colleagues.
After receiving both his undergraduate and law school degrees from the University of Southern California, Justice Croskey began his legal career serving in the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps. For the following 23 years he was in private practice until Governor George Deukmejian appointed him to the Los Angeles Superior Court in 1985 and just two years later elevated him to the Court of Appeal. During his 50 years as an active member of the legal community, he has served in a number of leadership capacities including Chair of the California Judicial Council's Advisory Committee on Trial Court Funding, the Second Appellate District Security Committee, and currently and, for the last eight years, the Judicial Council's Advisory Committee on Civil Jury Instructions (CACI). He is a member of the California Judges Association, the State-Federal Judicial Council, and the American Judicature Society. He has authored many articles in prominent legal publications, including Los Angeles Lawyer, Tort & Insurance Law Journal of the American Bar Association, and Connecticut Insurance Law Journal. He co-authors the Rutter Group's California Practice Guide, Insurance Litigation.
2013 Beacon of Justice Award
Honorable Lee Edmon and LACBA President Richard Burdge
California Court of Appeal, Second District & Los Angeles
Justice Lee Smally Edmon is known for her hard work, high energy level and collegial working manner. In just 11 years she moved up through the judicial ranks and served as Presiding Judge of one of the world’s largest trial courts. Due to unprecedented budget cuts, she was in the difficult position of significantly downsizing the court. Even in this most challenging role she brought a sense of calm, wisdom, innovation and consensus building. Debate team in college was her entry to the law. As a second year law student at University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, she came to Los Angeles to clerk at Adams Duque & Hazeltine and became hooked on Southern California.
After graduation in 1981 she joined Adams Duque & Hazeltine as an associate and 6 years later (1987) moved to Dewey Ballantine, later Dewey & LeBoeuf. Just three years later she became partner. Through her work as LACBA president in 1998 she worked closely with the courts and the idea of becoming a judge was germinated. Just two years later (2000) then Governor Gray Davis, appointed her to the Superior Court. In 2008 she ran unopposed and was elected assistant presiding judge, the first woman ever to take that position.
Not only has she contributed on the bench and for the bar but also in public service having served on the Boards of the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, Alliance for Children’s Rights, the Inner City Law Center, the Constitutional Rights Foundation, the American Bar Endowment, the American Bar Association’s nonprofit affiliate, and as a Trustee of the Law Library.
Hon. Richard Burdge Jr hails from Long Beach, went east to Yale for college then served our country in the Navy. He returned to UCLA for his law degree where he was Managing Editor of the UCLA Law Review and graduated Order of the Coif. A highly regarded attorney with more than 30 years of experience he has been selected a Super Lawyer by Southern California Super Lawyers every year since 2005.
He started practice at Lillick McHose & Charles, where he became a partner doing business litigation. He joined Dewey Ballantine LLP in 1986 and there met his future wife, Lee. In 2000, he joined Howry LLP, litigating complex business disputes and in 2011 founded the Burdge Law Firm. Like his wife, he has a strong commitment to pro bono and community work.
Active in LACBA since 1979, in July he became LACBA’s president and has also served as president of the Los Angeles Association of Business Trial Lawyers. He is a past member of the Central District’s delegation to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference and currently served on the Central District’s Attorney Admission Fund Board. He is also a Director of Public Counsel and the Friends of the LA Law Library and served as Co-Chair for the alumni campaign for the UCLA Law Library Renovation and Expansion.
2012 Beacon of Justice Award
Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye
State of California
Justice Tani Gorre Cantil-Sakauye was sworn into office as Chief Justice of California on January 3, 2011. She is the first Asian-Filipina American and the second woman to serve as the state’s Chief Justice.
Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye has served for more than 20 years on California appellate and trial courts. In 1990, Governor George Deukmejian appointed her to the Sacramento Municipal Court and in 1997, Governor Pete Wilson elevated her to the Superior Court of Sacramento County. In 2005, Governor Schwarzenegger nominated her to the Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District.
Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye was also a member of the California Commission for Impartial Courts. She previously served as a member of the Judicial Council’s Domestic Violence Practice and Procedure Task Force and chaired its Best Practices Domestic Violence subcommittee. She is president of the Anthony M. Kennedy American Inn of Court, an organization dedicated to promoting civility, ethics, and professionalism in the practice of law. Since 2007, she has been a Special Master, selected by the Supreme Court to hear disciplinary proceedings before the Commission on Judicial Performance.
Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye attended C. K. McClatchy High School (1977) and Sacramento City College (1978) before receiving her BA from the University of California, Davis, graduating with honors in 1980. After taking a year off to visit her ancestral homeland, the Philippines, the Chief Justice entered the UC Davis, Martin Luther King, Jr., School of Law in 1981. After receiving her JD in 1984, she worked as a deputy district attorney for the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office In 1988, she served on the senior staff of Governor George Deukmejian in two capacities: as deputy legal affairs secretary and as a deputy legislative secretary.
Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye is a former board member of several nonprofit organizations and has been active in numerous professional community organizations, including membership in the California Judges Association, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, and the Sacramento Asian Bar Association. She has received many awards, including honors from the Sacramento Domestic Violence Coordinating Council, the 2005 President’s Award from the Sacramento Asian Bar Association, the 2003 Trailblazer’s Award from the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, the Filipina of the Year Award, and other awards from youth groups.
2011 Beacon of Justice Award
Ronald L. Olson
Partner - Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP
Ronald L. Olson is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP. He has practiced law with the firm since 1968. Ron Olson is a director of Berkshire Hathaway, Edison International, City National Corporation, The Washington Post Company, and Western Asset Trusts. He serves as a director of several non-profits, including the RAND Corporation (formerly chair), the Mayo Clinic, the California Institute of Technology, and Nuclear Threat Initiative. He was Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Claremont University Center and Graduate School from 1984 to 1994, Founding Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Southern California Public Radio from 1999 to 2004 and a director of the Council on Foreign Relations from 2002 to 2010. Ron Olson has been the lead partner in numerous high-profile cases.
Ron Olson received his B.S. degree from Drake University in 1963, his J.D. degree from the University of Michigan in 1966, and a Diploma in Law from Oxford University, England, in 1967, at which time he was the recipient of a Ford Foundation fellowship. In 1967, Mr. Olson was an attorney for the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice and in 1968 clerked for Chief Judge David L. Bazelon, United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Mr. Olson was formerly Chairman of the Standing Committee on Federal Judiciary (1991-92), Chairman of the Litigation Section (1981-82), and Chairman of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee (1976-86) of the American Bar Association, and was Vice President of the Board of Governors of the State Bar of California (1986-87). He is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and the American Law Institute. Mr. Olson has received a number of awards for public service and pro bono activities.
2010 Beacon of Justice Award
Justice Miriam A. Vogel (Ret.) & Justice Charles S. Vogel (Ret.)
Los Angeles County Superior Court
Justice Charles S. Vogel has spent the last 50 years lawyering, judging, lawyering again, judging again, and now arbitrating and mediating with JAMS. After nine years in private practice in Pomona, Chuck was appointed to the Municipal Court in 1969, then elevated to the Superior Court in 1971, where he served as Supervising Judge of the Law Departments. In 1977, he returned to private practice first at Nossaman, Krueger & Marsh, then at Sidley & Austin, and during the ensuing years served as president of the State Bar of California, the Los Angeles County Bar Association, and the Association of Business Trial Lawyers. In 1993, he returned to the bench, this time the Court of Appeal where he served for 11 years, including stints as Presiding Justice of Division Four and as Administrative Presiding Justice of the Second Appellate District. In 2004, he retired from the Court of Appeal to join JAMS, where he now serves as an arbitrator and mediator. One of his most defining characteristics is the ease with which he has been able to move between the bar and the bench with a perspective few can match.
Justice Miriam A. Vogel got a slower start, graduating from law school at 35 but then she too alternated between lawyering and judging, practicing law for 10 years, judging for more than 22 years, and now practicing law again at Morrison & Foerster LLP. After a year in a prestigious clerkship with the late Justice Robert S. Thompson in Division One of the Second Appellate District, Miriam practiced civil and appellate law with Maiden, Rosenbloom, Wintroub, Vogel & Fridkis. She was appointed to the Superior Court in 1986, where she too served as Supervising Judge of the Law Departments. In 1990, she was elevated to the Court of Appeal, to the same division where she had clerked in 1975. During her 18 years on the Court of Appeal, she authored more than 2,700 opinions, including many with far-reaching effects. In 2008, she returned to private practice as Senior of Counsel with Morrison & Foerster where she is a member of the firms appellate group, writing briefs in the same crisp style in which she wrote so many memorable opinions.
2009 Beacon of Justice Award
Chief Justice Ronald M. George
California Supreme Court
Chief Justice Ronald M George was recognized for his unprecedented commitment to access to justice for all the citizens of California particularly those lower income Californians. He is renowned for working tirelessly to modernize California's court system and make it more service-oriented. Throughout his career as a lawyer and on the Bench, the Chief Justice has frequently authored publications and lectured at educational programs. He has won praise for his dedication to the rule of law. Chief Justice George has promoted the availability of legal representation to those who cannot afford it. He has encouraged law firms to devote hours to pro bono activities and helped to launch the Californias legal self-help website. His tremendous ongoing efforts to improve our legal system and make its benefits available to all exemplify the ideals behind the Beacon of Justice Award.
2008 Beacon of Justice Award
Justice Arthur Gilbert
California Court of Appeal Second District
Justice Arthur Gilbert was recognized for his exemplary service and significant contributions to the quality of justice, legal scholarship and legal education. The quality of his writing earned him the title of the Court of Appeal’s “poet laureate.” For over two decades Justice Gilbert has taught justices and judges the philosophy of judging, the art of crafting opinions and the effective performance of their jobs. He has served as faculty, speaker and panelist for numerous educational and judicial conferences and received the Bernard S Jefferson Award for his many contributions to legal education. He created the Legal Philosophy Curricula for California’s Continuing Judicial Studies Program and the California Judges College. Justice Gilbert has taught Anglo American Jurisprudence to judges throughout the world, including Hungary, Russia and Serbia.
2007 Beacon of Justice Award
Shirley and Seth Hufstedler
Morrison & Foerster & Los Angeles
Shirley and Seth Hufstedler were recognized for their lifelong commitment to justice and the distinction with which they served. Throughout their lives, they set the standard for service whether on the bench or within the bar. They served the community at the highest levels of public service and as champions for women and minorities in the legal profession. They are consistent and caring nurturers of the numerous lawyers who lives they touched. They are known as risk takers and trailblazers in all they have accomplished.
2006 Beacon of Justice Award
Justice Earl Johnson
California Court of Appeal, Second District
Justice Earl Johnson was recognized for his distinguished record as an appellate court justice, having served the California Court of Appeal, Second District for 24 years. His more than 600 published and nearly 3000 unpublished opinions have led to numerous awards and earned praise from California’s leading scholar, the late Bernard Witkin. As a scholar and teacher, Justice Johnson co-authored 17 books and over 50 articles, including landmark books on legal services for the poor, Justice and Reform, and, Toward Equal Justice. He has been an innovative leader for over four decades in bringing justice to the poor, from heading the country’s Legal Services Program in the 1960’s to chairing the California Commission on Access to Justice in 2002. He established the National Equal Justice Library now housed at Georgetown University Law Center. Justice Johnson is respected and admired by the legal community and epitomizes all that the Award represents. He has inspired and mentored many within the legal community; he has opened the doors of justice to many more.
2005 Beacon of Justice Award
Presiding Justice Norman L. Epstein
California Court of Appeal, Second District
Justice Norman L Epstein’s commitment to excellence, his generosity and collegiality are legendary. For nearly 30 years, Justice Epstein served the bench with distinction and the legal community with honor. First appointed to the Municipal Court in 1975 by Governor Reagan, he was elevated to the Superior Court in 1980 by Governor Brown, and subsequently appointed to the California Court of Appeal, Second District, by Governor George Deukmejian. In 2005 he was appointed Presiding Justice of Division Four by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Justice Epstein is also highly regarded as a scholar, author, teacher, mentor and community leader. He is respected for his knowledge and application of civil and criminal law. He served as Dean of the California Judicial College and Chair of the Litigation Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association.